Oil well tool



Patented Jan. 15,; 1935 UNITED STATES I PATENT oFFlcle.w

Technicra t Engineering Corporation,

Lol

Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Application September 6, 1932, Serial No. 631,781

` 12 Claims.

The present invention is an improved oil well tool and has relation to a. packer of the type shown and described in my co-pending application for Packer, Patent No. 1,925,016, issued August 29, 1933.

The device hereinafter described is shown in a conjunction with said packer, and, while it in no way restricts the operation thereof, it greatly in'- creases its utility for various operations, some of which have heretofore been possiblev only by the employment of heavy, complicated,` and expensive equipment.

My invention contemplates an attachment, fo connection with a packer of the character described, the use of which is optional, whereby hydrostatic pressure in a well casing filled with! drilling mud, or other fluid, can be dammed at any desired level and communication established with the zone below the point` at which the packer is set, after said zone has been relieved of saidv hydrostatic pressure within the casing.

As examples of the utility of my invention, it can be successfully operated in various testing operations customarily resorted to in determining deep well conditions either in producing wells or in formation before the well is placed on production. f

It can be used to determine the existence of leaks in or around a. casing, and the volumetric ilowor fluid characteristics thereof be determined by entrapping a sample, which'when relieved of hydrostatic pressure, enters the' tubing string and.; is entrapped and brought to the surface for examination.

Means are provided whereby fluid under pressure can be introduced from the top through the tubing string to which my device is attached, either for continuous circulation, to flush the zone below the packer, or to create hydraulicA pressure in said zone and thereby dislodge the equipment should it prove dimcult to remove.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure l is a diagrammatic view of a well casing, with my device therein associated with a tubing string and packer, and shows means at the top forA gaging flow through said string,`

Figure 2 is 'a central section of a head member connecting said packer and said tubing string, portions of both of which are shown,

Figure 3 is a fragmentary section, similar to Figure 2, and illustrates the effect of the impact of a falling weight employed to open the tubing string at the bottom after the packer has been set as shown in Figure 2. s

Figure 4 is a sectional view of a plug-valve,

Figures 5 and 6 are, respectively cross-sectional and top views of a piston-valve, the section of Figure 5 being indicated by the line V-V of Figure 6, and Figures 7 and 8 are, respectively, vertical cross-sectional and bottom planwiews of 't a sleeve member in which fis mounted a apper valve.

Referring to the drawing, Figure 1, the nu-` meral 1 indicates a well casing into which is lowered a string of tubing 2, to the lower end 10 of which is attached the head member 3 of my invention.

Threaded at 4, Figures 2 and 3, into the bot- I t tom end of said head member is a tubular support member 6, which is the central support lfi member of a hook wall packer shown and described inmy co-pending application for Letters Patent, Serial No. 614,731, filed June 1, 1932.-

The tube 6 carries a `spring cage, slidable 20* thereon and, when the device is run in, springs 7 frictionally engage the inner wall surface of casing 1.

The tubing string 2 is provided with a limited degree of longitudinal movement relative to the 25 head member 3, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, and a key 8 provides a means whereby said longitudinal movement ispossible and at the same time makes it possible to impart rotative movement to head 3, and tube 6 secured thereto, 30 when said tubing is rotated from the top of the well.

When so rotated, a stud 9 secured to tube 6 is disengaged from a hook 11, integral with said spring cage. Slips 12, provided with serrations 35 13, are secured to said spring cage and are spread outwardly into engagement with casing 1 by the downward movement of a' cone member 14.

When said slips are so engaged, further dow`no ward movement of tubing string 2 causes compression between the anchored cone 14 and head member 3 and this force compresses expansion rings 16- and the conic surfaces of said rings expand packing rings 17 radially into engagemen't'with casing 1. The packer is now set and said casing divided into upper and lower zones having no communication except through said packer and head v3. 50

The expansion rings 16 are provided with complementary confronting surfaces which form a metal-to-metal seal, one ring tting the adjacent ring, and the top ring fitting the tapered bottom of head 3,- Fluid can pass only through 55 an annular by-pass 18, Figure 2, surrounding tube s or through said tube.

The by-pass 18 is normally closed, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, by the weight of tubing string 2. However, if said tubing be lifted, a valve member 19, integral with the lowermost member of tubing string 2 moves upward and uncovers passages 21 which then connect bypass 18 with ports 22 leading through head 3 to the space between casing 1 and tubing string 2.

When said valve 19 is lifted, fluid is prevented from entering tubing string 2 by a skirt 23 (the lowermost portion of said tubing) which is provided with a sliding t within head 3, rising as valve 19 leaves its seat 24, and until said valve encounters a stop shoulder 26, Figure 3.

Head member 3 is centrally bored to connect tube 6 with the tubing string 2 and said bore is reduced and tapered near the middle of its length, as indicated at 27, to form a seat for .a piston-valve 28.

Valve 28 is shown in detail in Figures 5 and 6, and in unseated and seated positions, respectively in Figures 2 and 3.

It is often desirable to run the tubing string in dry. That is to say, with the lower end closed against thel admission thereto of drilling mud, or for other reasons to be given later.

This is accomplished by means of a barrier disc 29, of bakelite, cast iron, or any other suitable fragile material which is effective to resist uid pressure and yet of a nature to be easily shattered, to open the passage it obstructs, by the impact of a go-devil 31 dropped through the tubing string 2 when the packer has been set and the device is ready to function.

Disc 29 is inserted inthe bore of head 3 and held against the shoulder 32 by a collar 33 threaded in ahead of tube 6. The lower reduced portion of piston-valve 28 rests on said disc, as shown in Figure 2, and the reduced top of said valve is centered in an opening in a sleeve 34 against the top of said valve.

Sleeve 34 also serves, later, as a stop to limit the upward movement of said piston-valve 28.

The eifect of the impact of the go-devil 31 is illustrated in Figure 3. Disc 29 is shattered and pressure from the zone below the packer lifts piston-valve 28 till it is stopped by collar 34. Flow from tube 6 passes through grooves 36 in said piston, through collar 34 and upward through the tubing string 2.

It will be noted that grooves 36 are so formed as to be closed by shoulders 27 when pistonvalve 28 is in seated position (Figure 3).

In order to make it possible to circulate the fluid, under pressure, downward through the tubing string 2 and upward through by-pass 18, passages 21, ports 22, and upward through the casing, I provide a check-valve 37 which controls a passage 38 in the center of piston-valve 28. Quadrilaterally disposed. ports 39 communicate with passage 38.

When iluid, under pressure is directed downward in tubing string 2, piston-valve 28 seats on shoulder 27, closing grooves 36. Said pressure unseats check-valve 37, passes through ports 39, through the broken disc 29 and down tube 6. This admission of fluid under pressure may be to formation or, by lifting the tubing 2 (and valve 19) it may be for circulation, as for instance, to remove drilling mud from formation.

In case it is the latter, said uid is discharged from, or near, the bottom of tube 8 and uid enters by-pass 18, and goes up through passages 21 and 22ito the casing 1.

Operation In Figure 1, I show my device assembled and run in to the bottom of casing 1. The packer is set, as heretofore described, near formation 41. Assuming that the well is about to be placed on production and that casing 1 is filled with drilling :duid through which the device has been lowered, that the hydrostatic pressure of said mud has been cut off and is now supported above the packer rings 17, that uid in formation is no longer under pressure therefrom, and that the tubing string 2 has been run in dry, or empty, go-devil 31 is dropped through the tubing string 2.

As a safeguard against the well getting out of control, should it prove to be a flowing well, I provide at, or near, the top a sub 41 in which is a plug-valve 42 of well-known type, in common use in well practice because of its compact form and adaptability to slender cylindrical parts.

In Figure 4 I show a cross-section of said sub and plug-valve. Said valve 42 has a gate 43, which, in the position shown in Figure 4, admits therethrough the go-devil 31. Said valve is then rotated ninety degrees and said gate then is in position to direct iiow from tubing string 2, through a port 44, thence laterally to pipes 46 and 47 leading, respectively, to a fluid meter 48 and a gas meter 49. Valves 51 and 52 govern pipes 46 and 47.

When the go-devil 31 contacts pistonvalve 28, resting on barrier 29, said barrier is shattered, as indicated in Figure 3, opening tubing string 2 to normal formation pressure.

Fluid from formation enters tube 6 of the packer through perforations 53, and lifts pistonvalve 28 from its seat 27, uncovering slots 36, and passes into tubing string 2, rising therein to a level determined by the degree of formation pressure.

Said fluid entering tubing string 2 displaces air in the dry drill stem and the force and duration of said displacement is measured by the operators at the top as it passes through gas or oil meters 48 and 49, either or both of which are equipped with pressure gages 54. If the formation yields oil or gas and if the well continues to ow, suitable preparations are made to take care of the iiow.

However, should the formation pressure be insuflicient to lift a column of liquid to the top. and this fact be evidenced at the top of the tubing string by subsidence of flow therefrom, it becomes necessary to entrap, in said string, such fluid as is accumulated therein in order to determine its characteristics and volume.

When pressure has subsided in tubing string 2 said tubing is lifted. The first upward movement of said string lifts valve 19 and hydrostatic pressure from casing lfenters port 22, and passage 21 which is closed at the bottom by a check- .valve 56, and is directed through a port 57 against the back of a fla-pper-valve 58 in a recess 59 in the wall of sleeve 53, Figures 2, 7, and 8.

Said valve is pivoted on a pintle 61, and when said hydrostatic pressure encounters the back of said valve it is swung out of recess 59 and to a position indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2 and in full lines in Figures 7 and 8.

The upward movement of tubing string 2 disengages the bottom of head member 3 from its seat in the uppermost of expansion rings 16, and

' string moves upward.

iiuidwithin the tubing string '2, and valve 5d 1,987,919 the sudden equalization of hydrostatic pressure above and below the packer causes a Jar or impact sumcient to dislodge the packer from the wall oi casing l. v

Hydrostatic pressure, after this equalization, in tube 6 exceeds that ol the entrapped sample in the tubing string and is eilective to hold the :dapper-valve 53 against its seat as the tubing When said string oi tubing/is raised to a level where the level of the sample therein ishigher than that oi the uid in casing l, land pressure within the tubing string overbalances that oir-the casing. piston-valve 28 seats against shoulder 27 and positively locks the entrapped sample of drops baci: to its original position in recess 59.

While I have elected, for the purposes oi better illustration, to show in the drawing my invention as applied to a well casing and hook wall packer, it is obvious that the device is equally applicable to, and as useful ior, conditions where no casing is provided. It will operate equally as well in connection with a packer of sfo-called formation, or open hole packer, as with a rathole, or plug type packer. The fragile disc 39 can be provided with a weakened section, as indicated at Liii in the drawing, to cause it to iracture in a manner which' will form an opening of predetermined shape.

This 'can be donewhen said disc is cast or moulded, or afterward by machining or scariiy ing said disc, depending upon whether mid disc be made oi bakelite, glass or metal.

l claim: Y

l. A well tool comprising -a tubing string, a packer adapted, when set in a uidnlled well, to divide said well into upper and lower acum. means whereby said tubing string can be run into saidwell and kept empty until said packer has been set, 'means for opening said tubing string to passage therethrough oi duid 'from the zone below said packer, means, responsive to hydrostatic pressure in said well tor entrapping, within said tubing string, asample oi duid from below said packer and means, actuated by the weight oi said sample, for preventing itsl escape when the tubing string is lifted. 2. A well tool comprising ya. tubing string, a packer adapted, when set in a well con im: w: duid, to divide said well into upper and lower zones, means for excluding fluid from said tubing, string until aftersaid packer has beenset, means for opening said tubing'strim to we therethrough oi' fluid from the none below said packer, and means. responsive to hydrostatic 'pressure in said well, for entrapping, within said tubing string, a sample oi huid from below said packer, and gravity actuated means, automati-l cally edective, when' said hydrostatic pressure from said well is exceeded by that oi said huid sample, for holding said sample entrapped within said tubing, Y

a. in combination, a tubing a pacher adapted, when set in a well, to divide said well into upper and lower zones, said packer provided with independent dow iwf-els there through, a head member constituting one or ya pair oi relatively movable membersv adaptw, when compremed, to set said woher, saifd head provided with independent new :,--vf therethrough i-i with the channels oi mid packer, means, responsiveto movement oi said tubing string, for selectively opening and closin@ the News. in md hwd, "'illf'i and vlower Vpressure irom the upper zone pintenj valve,

munieswan the una mms' for keeping said tubing string empty until said packer has been set, means, yieldable to the impact of a falling weight, for rendering said closure means inoperative, a valve, automatically movable to seated position upon removal of said closure means, adapted to entrap within said tubing string a sample of `duid from the zone below said packer, and a supplemental valve, automatically operative by hydrostatic pressure in said well when said tubing string is lifted, to close said tubing string against loss oi said entrapped sample, as long as said well pressure exceeds that of said sample.

i. In a well tool a housing. provided with a passage therethrough, valve seats in said passage in spaced-apart relation to each other, a piston valve, movablebetween said seats, provided with surfaces on its opposite ends com plementary to adjacent surfaces on said seats,

housing and suspending therein said piston valve, in inoperative position. l

5. ln combination, a tubing string, a pusher associated with said tubing string, adapted, when set in a well, to divide the weil into upper through said packer communicating with the ,l upper and lower zones, a )tubular head member slidably retained on the lower end oi the tubingv string, an annular valve swt formed within the bore oi said tubular head adjacent the lower end ci the tubing, duid f extending longizftizi through said head below said valve seat and` communicating with the pmges in said packer, check valves in said passages to prevent uid from passing downwardly there` through, .lateral duid .c in said head zones, .duid passages extending I above said valve seat counicating with the y uppm' well gone outside oi said head, valve mmns adapted to close the passage through said tubular head member actuated by lvlft'lll through the longitudinal duidv head, irangible mns lor through said tubular hwd me v iston valve in the tubular hwd member abovesaid; irangible member and adapted to bear thereon, an annuiarvalve seat in the i t, said tubular head member co-acting with said a through said piston valve adapted to be closed by said valve seat when the piston valve is in its lowermost position, a second longitudinal duid' te through said pistonV valve com through said tubular head below said valve, and a check valve in the last named huid passage adapted to prevent duid from dowing upwardly time through.

il. d device as described in claim in which the valve wtf-:t on the lower endoi the tubing string is provided with a circular. downwarddy depending smit, and the hibular hmd member is provided with a bore adapted 'to receive said downwardly 'A ,.1., mi. amrt to edect a slidable,

renaming sai naw ine uiting and new.

The combination, with'a tubing suing and with a luy-pam therethrough, oi a pair ment of iluid through said tubing string, a frangible closure, adapted to exclude iluid from said string when it is immersed, and means, operable through said tubing string for breaking open said closure and seating said valve.

8. The combination with a tubing string and a packer incorporating means for balancing the pressures above and below the packer upon initiating withdrawal thereof, of check valve at the lower portion oi' the tubing string arranged to close against the flow of fluid from the in terior thereof, a frangible closure for said tubing string, means operable through said tubing string and said check valve to2 break said closure and valve means' operativelyv connected with ksaid pressurebalancing means to close said tubing string against further entrance of uid upon instigating withdrawal of the tubing string.

9. The combination with a tubing string, of avalve seat and stop occurring in spaced apart relation within said tubing string, a piston valve moveable between said seat and stop for controlling movement of nuid through said tubing string, a frangible closure adapted to exclude liquid from the string when immersed, and means operable through said tubing string for breaking open saidl closure and seating said valve.

10. The combination'with a tubing string and a packer of a body incorporated in the upper end of the packer, and having a bore communicating with the interior of the tubing string, a spaced apart valve seat and stop within said bore, a piston valve moveable between said seat and stop for controlling movement of fluid through said tubing string, a frangible closure adapted to exclude liquid from the string when immersed, and means operable through said tubing string'for breaking open said closure and seating said valve.l

11. The combination with a tubing string, of-

a check valve seat in the lower portion of said tubing string, av frangible closure below said check valve seat for initially sealing said tubing string, a check valve for said valve seat initially supported bySsaid closure oi said seat, and means for impacting said check valve whereby the check valve is caused to breaksaid closure and subsequently to coact with said seat and entrap iiuid within the tubing string.'

12. The combination with` a tubing string, of a check valve seat in the lower portion of said tubing string, a closure below said check valve seat for initially sealing said tubing string, a check valve for said valve'seat initially supported by said closure of! said seat, and means .operable through said check valve to open a passageA through said closure.

m WALTER T. wams. 

